March 2017

THE VALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL
28 www.TheValleyBusinessJournal.com
March 2017
Latest Email Phishing Scam
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Though these reports have become
a frequent occurrence, if you simply remain
diligent to a few rules your chances
of causing a breach are significantly
decreased.
This particular scam takes the traditional
email phishing scams to a new
level in that it involves business executive
impersonation and wire fraud in
relation to your company’s distribution
of W-2’s. Before you start thinking “I’m
too small, this will never happen to me,
etc.” let me tell you we have seen both of
these individual types of scams multiple
times within our client base. If you have
data, you’re not too small and frankly,
a breach will cost you more than your
bigger competitors.
Traditional Email Phishing –
Though we have covered this a handful
of times in different articles it’s important
that we keep this information top of
mind. These strikes normally arrive in
your inbox with a malicious attachment
or a prompt to a web link. The easiest
way to distinguish if an attachment is
safe or malicious is to look at the file
extension – the three letters that follow
the period at the end of the file name.
According to Microsoft, .exe, .com,
.pif, .bat and .scr are the most common
file name extensions that may contain a
dangerous file. Sometimes the extensions
are not viewable by default. If that is the
case on your computer, you can enable
them by going to Control Panel > File
and Folder Options > Hide Extensions for
Known File Types (uncheck this item.)
Also, be very wary of attachments with
two extensions, such as pdf.exe. The only
file extension that matters is the last one
and it is extremely rare to have two file
names, it is probably someone trying to
trick you into thinking a file is safe.
If you received an email with a hyperlink
in the body, hover over it and look
closely to the web address to see if it matches
the rest of the email. These 2 checks
alone can save you from a phishing attack.
Executive Fraud – Some phishing
emails are getting so advanced that they
appear to be sent from an executive from
your company or a partner/vendor company
you do business with. We’ve seen 2
instances of this type of fraud in the last
six months. Fortunately, the receiver of
the email was tipped off that something
didn’t seem right as the email body just
didn’t “sound” like something the executive
would write. A simple phone call
confirmed the recipient’s hunch and a
crisis was averted.
Wire Fraud – Now this is a scary
one. The “executive” in the fraud reference
above asks for a wire transfer
to be done. We have actually seen this
occur but thankfully for our client the
bank questioned it and they were able
to recover their money. If your business
frequently deals with wires you must
have a multi-step procedure in place to
stop any potential attacks.
Once again, this new threat combines
these methods to try and catch you off
guard and is timed right at the start of tax
season. The perpetrators are trying to fool
your staff into releasing your information
or sending money so that you don’t mess
with the IRS. “This is one of the most
dangerous email phishing scams we’ve
seen in a long time,” IRS Commissioner
John Koskinen said. “Although not tax
related, the wire transfer scam is being
coupled with the W-2 scam email, and
some companies have lost both employees’
W-2s and thousands of dollars.” If
you come across anything suspicious the
IRS is requesting that you email phishing@irs.gov
and place “W2 Scam” in
the subject line and remember the tips
above. Just a few extra minutes looking
over an email before you respond, clink a
link or open an attachment can save you
exponentially.
Mythos Technology is an IT consulting
and management firm. For more information,
please visit www.mythostech.com
or call (951) 813-2672.
connect: www.mythostech.com
Veteran’s Service Awards
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“This award is just a small token of
our thanks and appreciation for what they
have done, not only during their time in
uniform, but after they returned home.”
Veterans groups, such as American
Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars
Posts, are encouraged to nominate a member
of their organization for the award
and individuals can also nominate worthy
veterans.
The deadline to submit applications
is April 17, 2017. Award recipients must
be residents of the 28th District, which is
entirely in Riverside County and includes
the cities of Blythe, Canyon Lake, Cathedral
City, Coachella, Desert Hot Springs,
Indian Wells, Indio, Lake Elsinore, La
Quinta, Murrieta, Temecula, Palm Springs,
Rancho Mirage and Wildomar.
Applications and more information
are available on the Senator’s website
– www.Senate.Ca.Gov/Stone -- and by
calling the Senator’s District Office in the
Coachella Valley in Indio (760-398-6442)
and Southwest Office in Murrieta. (951-
894-3530).
Jeff Stone represents California’s 28th
Senate District. The district, which is
entirely in Riverside County, stretches
from the vineyards of the Temecula Valley
to the Colorado River and includes the
cities of Blythe, Canyon Lake, Cathedral
City, Coachella, Desert Hot Springs,
Indian Wells, Indio, Lake Elsinore,
La Quinta, Murrieta, Temecula, Palm
Springs, Rancho Mirage and Wildomar.
For more information visit:
www.Senate.ca.gov/Stone or on
Facebook at
www.facebook.com/SenatorJeffStone